| Northwestern (10-8, 1-4) vs. Ohio State (12-5, 3-3) |
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| Date | Thursday, Jan. 22 | 6 p.m. |
| Location | Welsh-Ryan Arena | Evanston, Ill. |
| Watch | ESPN and WatchESPN (Rece Davis and Shane Battier) |
| Listen | 720 WGN and wgnradio.com (Dave Eanet and Joey Meyer) |
| Live Stats | Gametracker |
| Buy Tickets | NUsports.com |
| Social Media | @NUMensBball  | Facebook  | @numensbball  |
| Game Notes | Northwestern | Ohio State |
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern hosts its third-annual Social Media Night game Thursday as it takes on Ohio State at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.
Fans can get their photos taken with Willie the Wildcat pregame beginning at 5:30 p.m., have the opportunity to win a number of giveaways by following the Northwestern men's basketball social media accounts and are encouraged to use the hashtag #B1GCats to join the conversation with other fans. A complete listing of Social Media Night events can be found here.
Northwestern is out to try to snap a four-game losing streak. The last three defeats have been by an average of 4.7 points per game. The largest margin of defeat over the three-game span was by seven points in overtime at Michigan State.
The Wildcats fell in the closing seconds for the second time last week as they were edged 56-54 at Michigan on Saturday. Junior center Alex Olah made of 9 of 12 field goal attempts in the contest en route to a game-high 22 points, one shy of his career high.
Thursday's contest features two of the top freshmen in the Big Ten this season. Northwestern's Bryant McIntosh and Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell are two of the three major conference true freshmen (joining USC's Jordan McLaughlin) who are averaging at least 11.5 points and 4.5 assists per game.
The last four contests between the Wildcats and Buckeyes in Evanston have been decided by a total of 16 points.
Ohio State won the lone meeting between the schools in Columbus last season as the Buckeyes came back from a nine-point first-half deficit to win 76-60 on Feb. 19.
Scouting Ohio State
The Buckeyes dropped their second game of the season to Iowa on Saturday, falling 76-67 in Iowa City. Freshman guard D'Angelo Russell led Ohio State with 27 points and 14 rebounds but the Buckeyes were unable to overcome an 11-point halftime deficit.
Russell paces Ohio State with an average of 18.6 points per game to rank third in the Big Ten while his 4.8 assists per game rank fifth. Senior guard Shannon Scott is first in the conference with an average of 6.9 assists and second with 2.3 steals per contest. The Buckeyes lead the league with a .502 team field goal percentage and rank second in both scoring offense (80.5 ppg) and scoring defense (61.2 ppg).
Thad Matta has a 289-88 record in 11 seasons as the head coach at Ohio State and a 391-119 career mark as a head coach.
UP NEXT...
The 'Cats are back in action at 6:30 p.m. Central time Sunday when they travel to Maryland.
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